Cream Anmitsu (クリームあんみつ, Kurīmu Anmitsu)

Cream anmitsu looks busy because every small thing has its own place: clear kanten cubes, sweet azuki, white shiratama, fruit, cold vanilla, and dark kuromitsu. It is not difficult. It is a bowl of contrasts, and most of the work is waiting for things to chill.

The first secret is kanten, the firm seaweed jelly that gives anmitsu its clean bite. Gelatin wobbles and melts under warmth; kanten sets with a sharp edge and holds it beside fruit, syrup, and ice cream. Boil it fully or it won't dissolve. Cut it small or it won't catch the syrup. That is the whole stern lecture, mercifully short.

Choose fruit at its shun, its prime, and let the season show. Peach and melon in summer, strawberries in spring, mikan in winter. The sweet-shop version often uses canned mikan and white peach, and they belong here when they taste bright and clean. Keep everything cold, add the ice cream last, and drizzle the kuromitsu just before serving. We don't bury the bowl in syrup. Each bite should change: cool cream, earthy anko, springy shiratama, clear kanten, and a little salt from the red peas. Leave it room.